Etihad expands in-flight entertainment

21 August 2006

Etihad Airways is now offering guests more than 350 hours of movies and television programmes, following a major upgrade of its in-flight entertainment (IFE). The audio and video on demand (AVOD) includes features unique to Etihad such as building a ‘video favourites’ list for the duration of the flight, in addition to more than 200 music albums, which increases by ten every month, and 70 international feature-length films.

‘Etihad understands just how important advanced IFE is to our Guests, and this is why we have gone to such lengths to provide the very best entertainment whether in music, movies or TV programmes,’ said Peter Van Gompel, assistant vice president for product and service delivery, Etihad Airways.

IFE has developed significantly in recent years from its humble beginnings of one or two films per flight to state-of-the-art audio-and-video-on-demand systems.

Etihad’s new fleet of aircraft are fitted with the Thales TopSeries i4000 system which offers more than two weeks of continuous entertainment, covering a wealth of languages and cultures, placing the airline amongst the world’s best IFE providers.

‘Etihad is a leading international airline, and therefore it is important to recognise the different tastes that exist amongst our Guests. One of the best examples of this is that we now offer 11 genres of music, including several languages, such as Sinhalese, Tamil and German, as well as 12 radio stations,’ continued Van Gompel.

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With the large selection of films and TV programmes to choose from, Guests can also make use of the ‘video favourites’ feature. As they browse through all the entertainment options, they can select titles from the menu and add them to a ‘favourites’ selection.

Once the favourites are set up, the Guest can return to this selection and make changes at any time, making the process much easier.

‘The Thales TopSeries i4000, audio-and-video-on-demand system, was chosen because it, like Etihad Airways, wants to deliver the very best in in-flight entertainment. The superior range of features and services are very impressive when compared to the standard in-flight entertainment options available,’ concluded Van Gompel.

A world-class in-flight entertainment facility has to be delivered in an advanced format, which is why Etihad is so proud of the large TV screens and noise cancellation head sets that are available in all Diamond, Pearl and Coral zones on its new fleet of aircraft.

Every seat has its own TV screen, with the highlight being the 23 inch personal LCD video screen in the new Diamond zone suite ‘air theatre’. Pearl and Coral zone TVs are also the industry’s largest at 15 inch and 10.4 inch screens, respectively.

Etihad also offers impressive in-flight communications services, with the Airbus A340-500 Diamond zone being Etihad’s first aircraft with in-seat telephones.